By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 20: Sarawak and Sabah governments must insist that political parties from Malaya withdraw and refrain from contesting in any elections in the two Borneo states if true equality and equal partnership within Malaysia are to be pursued.
Highlighting this, Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan argued that Malaysia’s formation was a means for Malaya to expand by absorbing Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah through the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which promised equal partnership but never delivered on it.
“The whole purpose of Malaysia was to enlarge Malaya by acquiring Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah under the guise of an equal partnership. However, from the very beginning on Sept 16, 1963, Malaya dominated Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah, proving that no such equality ever existed,” he said in a statement today.
Voon pointed out that the imbalance of power was evident in the initial allocation of parliamentary seats, where Malaya controlled 105 or 65 per cent of the 160 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, while Sarawak, Sabah, and Singapore were given 24, 16, and 15 seats, respectively.
When Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, its 15 seats were absorbed by Malaya, further deepening the inequality.
“This inequality between Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah with Malaya was known since Malaysia was formed but there was no political will to resolve this. It is foreseeable that this could not be resolved soon,” he said.
Despite the Sarawak ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) pushing for a one-third allocation of parliamentary seats for Sarawak and Sabah as a means to uphold MA63, Voon claimed that the agreement does not mention seat distribution.
“There was no provision in MA63 about how parliamentary seats should be distributed. Therefore, invoking MA63 to justify one-third representation for Sarawak and Sabah is inaccurate,” he stressed.
He further pointed out that legal experts have long viewed MA63 as a “fraud” because it was used to bring Sarawak and Sabah under Malayan rule without ensuring genuine equality.
Given Malaya’s current control over 65 per cent of parliamentary seats, he asserted that even if Sarawak and Sabah were granted one-third of the seats, it would not be enough to prevent Malaya from dictating policies and laws.
“With a simple majority, Malaya can still pass laws that erode Sarawak and Sabah’s rights. And with a two-thirds majority, they can amend the Federal Constitution at will. The only way to ensure Sarawak and Sabah’s rights are safeguarded is to prevent Malayan parties from contesting in the two states,” he said.
Currently, the federal parliament consists of 222 seats, with Sabah and Sarawak holding a combined 56 seats, or 25.2 per cent of the total.
Voon maintained that as long as political parties from Malaya continue to contest and win seats in Sarawak and Sabah, the power imbalance will persist, making it impossible to achieve true equality within Malaysia. — DayakDaily
